[h1][center][color=9e0b0f]Lavinia[/color][/center][/h1]
The blood mage was dragging her feet as she followed the others out to where Grasidia's giant leaves lay waiting. Work was already a pain to begin with, let alone when it had a high chance of mortality thrown in. Lavinia [i]liked[/i] being alive, spent most of her free time being alive, and the prospect of potentially having to stop being alive was something of a turn-off when it came to her immediate motivation.

There was no getting out of it, though; her guildmates would get suspicious if she tried to stay behind. Besides, shouldn't she think of this as an opportunity? After all, someone was likely to die on this mission. If that happened, then no doubt the others would be plunged into despair... And that kind of shock made people easy to [i]manipulate and corrupt![/i] The sadistic sparkle reignited in her eyes. [color=9e0b0f][i]Yes! I'll play along, do my part like a good little mage. And then, when someone inevitably kicks the bucket, I'll take everyone's sorrow and twist it into a vindictive grudge against the entire world!![/i][/color]

There was only one uncertain detail in her ingenious scheme: [i]who to let die?[/i] Lavinia's brow furrowed as she contemplated the issue. Obviously it couldn't be Ria, since she was a sweetheart and also made sandwiches which were very tasty. She could rule Gwen out too, partly out of respect for Ria and partly because Lavinia secretly enjoyed the views she got when the ice mage was boldly strutting about. Grasidia was... tempting. But then, it would be a real bummer if the S-Class were to die before Lavinia got to carry out her plans for vengeance!

Maybe Holly, then? No, she was too cool to die. And Felix was only a child; even a completely irredeemable villain like Lavinia had to have [i]some[/i] standards when it came to children. Luke kept to himself and rarely annoyed her, so she supposed he could live... And Lilliana was a walking mystery, no [i]way[/i] could Lavinia let her die without getting a chance to figure her out.

Lavinia's frown deepened as the options narrowed down more and more. Leon? Too useful, she might need a strategist on her side one day. Zenith? He had a wit about him, she'd miss his sharp tongue. It'd be useful to have Marduk taken out of the picture, but at the same time he was one of the only people aware of how much of a threat Lavinia truly posed, and for some reason she kind of liked having someone validate her that way. Asher... nope, his smithing skills were too valuable for the guild. And even if Cloven was a bit odd, she couldn't help but feel a kind of kinship with the strange boy.

[color=9e0b0f]"Aaaaaaaaargh!"[/color] She cursed to herself, scratching at her head with one hand. [color=9e0b0f][i]Damnit! I don't want to lose any of them just yet![/i][/color] Maybe she could, like, let them come really close to dying but then swoop in at the last second to save them, and then exploit the trauma of a near-death experience to corrupt them? Or something like that?

She was still pondering the problem as she stepped onto one of the leaves, where she stood tall and proud until the sudden take-off bowled her over onto her butt.[hr]

By the time they reached Era, she'd somehow managed to find her feet again and was standing right at the front of her big green vessel, arms folded firmly across her chest in an imitation of a cool pose she'd seen Holly do one time. Ahead loomed the burning city, the horrifying monster, the imminent prospect of certain doom.

[color=9e0b0f][i]Okay, Lavinia, you can do this.[/i][/color] She took a few deep breaths, digging deep into her reserves of villainous bravado. [color=9e0b0f][i]Is the future Dark Empress of Fiore going to let herself be intimidated by one measly dragon? NEVERRRR![/i][/color] As Grasidia went zooming off to begin the attack, the blood mage shouted out in her wake, addressing the dragon directly:

[color=9e0b0f]"I shall give you one chance, you unsightly little lizard! Surrender now, and I might let you live on as my pet!"[/color]

The beast was clearly terrified by her pompous threat. Having briskly dispatched Grasidia, it flapped its wings and produced a gust of wind that sent the giant flying leaves hurtling off in a chaotic spiral— but alas, the dragon struck too late. Lavinia had already [i]leaped[/i] off into the air, her robes billowing out behind her as she summoned her favorite book of all.

[color=9e0b0f][b]"Sanguine Grimoire... Impaler!"[/b][/color]

A crimson flood burst from the pages of her magical tome, coalescing beneath her feet in the form of a massive spike more than six feet long and one foot wide at its base. She balanced on its edge with practiced elegance, pointing with her free hand and calling out once more:

[b][color=9e0b0f]"Hellsing!!"[/color][/b]

Her makeshift lance shot off like a rocket, and Lavinia went right with it, riding it as if it were a surfboard as she hurtled past the dragon and extended her grimoire out towards it. A thick spray of blood blasted out from the ancient volume, painting a line of splattered red across the monster's head, wings, and body; anywhere she could hit. Some of the fluid would mix with the smoke particles around its face, forming a viscous mixture that would be hard to shake off, and any that missed or dripped away end up falling to the ground to feed the growth of Grasidia's plants.

Without pausing for even a second after her strafing run, Lavinia vaulted off her ride and came crashing down on a nearby roof, hopefully escaping any immediate retaliation. Her blood-spear, however, flew onward... streaking straight through one of Marduk's portals. Assuming he'd kept the exits on target, that dragon was about to receive one [i]hell[/i] of a poke in the eyeball!